Updated: 4/3/2011
Exhibits include the history of Daniel Boone's Wilderness Trail, pioneer life, the formation of the tunnel, the history of railroad building and use in the tunnel as well as the flora and fauna of the area.
Daniel Boone was probably the first white man to see the tunnel. However, no one wrote of it until Lt. Col. Stephen H. Long explored the site in 1831 and published an article in a geology journal in 1832. The areas near the tunnel were mined for saltpeter during the Civil War. In 1890 the South Atlantic and Ohio Railroad arrived and, making use of the natural formation, laid tracks through the tunnel. In 1906 Southern Railway acquired the tracks and created a passenger line, the Natural Tunnel Line, that went through the tunnel. Large coal deposits were discovered in the area shortly thereafter, and although they no longer carry passengers, trains continue to this day to carry coal through Natural Tunnel.
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